Sterling Hospitals to foray into diagnostics business

Plans to invest Rs 30 cr to have six main hubs and 20 smaller centers across Gujarat in phase I

Sterling Addlife India Ltd, which owns and manages the largest chain of corporate hospitals in Gujarat, is foraying into the fast growing diagnostics business through a new company called Sterling Accuris Wellness Ltd. This new company will operate diagnostic centers including radiology and pathology under the brand name ‘Sterling Accuris Diagnostics’.

Rajiv Sharma, chief operating officer, Sterling Hospitals, informed that in the first phase there were plans to open six main diagnostic hubs at places like Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Surat and Kutch, along with 20 smaller centers across Gujarat. The initial investment could be to the tune of Rs 25-30 crore, he added.

Sterling plans to complete the first phase within the next three years, and thereafter spread the diagnostics brand outside Gujarat to neighbouring states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

“The Sterling brand is quite well established in these states. We get around 115-125 patients from Rajasthan every month at our hospital in Ahmedabad,” Sharma said.

The company will also set up a new state of the art standalone laboratory in Ahmedabad, which will be equipped to handle high-end diagnostic tests.

Nikhil M Lala, corporate head, medical services & quality medical administration, Sterling Addlife India Ltd elaborated that Sterling Accuris would be equipped to conduct tests in the areas of cytogenetics, real time PCRs to quantify viral load, and also flow cytometrics for early detection of leukemia.

The area of diagnostics is growing at a CAGR of around 12-15 per cent and is estimated to be around $2.4 billion dollar market in the country at the moment, or around 3 per cent of the total healthcare business, Sharma said.

There are around 100,000 laboratories in the country, and around 5,000 labs in Gujarat. Of this, around 10-12 per cent is expected to be in the organised sector. Sharma further said that in Gujarat the out-of-hospital diagnostics market is estimated roughly to be around Rs 5,00-6,00 crore.